Music and journalism by Kevin Pasman

Album of the Week 23-2016: Sven Hammond Soul – The Usual Suspects

When Sven Hammond Soul started out, they were a Hammond organ-based (don’t tell me that surprises you) instrumental Soul band reminiscent of Booker T. & The M.G.’s and maybe The Meters. Through a sort of horn-filled Soul revue approach, they eventually became the best Rock ‘n’ Soul band in the Netherlands. As a result, the band eventually dropped the “Soul” from the name, but this last record under the original name is where the shift towards more song-oriented material first happened. Having an amazing singer (Ivan Peroti) in the line-up and a Rock oriented producer (Tony Platt) may have influenced that, but whatever the case, the album is amazing.

‘The Usual Suspects’ has a distinct late sixties and early seventies vibe, but still sounds rather current. Platt’s clear and vibrant production helps a bit, but even moreso, the band knows how to write a good song without trying to get too caught up in becoming a period piece. There’s hints of Blues and Pop, larger parts of Soul, Funk and Rock and most impressively, those influences blend together seamlessly in a way that should please fans of any of those genres. It certainly feels like these songs came together without much concern of what genre it fits and the whole record profits from that.

It was the (almost) title track of this record that definitively won me over for the band. ‘The Usual Suspect’ has some nice riffs that don’t overpower the composition, a great vocal melody from Peroti and an amazing chorus. Try to imagine a mixture of The Black Crowes more concise songs and Tom Jones’ most Soulful material. But it’s hardly the only highlight on the record. ‘Happy People’ is nice and funky, ‘Children Of The Dark’ works towards the perfect climax that is the moving chorus and ‘Pussy’ compensates for its unfortunate title by being an instrumental track with all the band members firing on all Funk cylinders.

Although ‘Good Home’ is primarily a Funk track, drummer Joost Kroon seems to be channelling his inner John Bonham in a main section that is highly reminiscent of ‘Immigrant Song’, which pleases the Led Zeppelin fan that I am. ‘Heaven’ and especially the sparse closer ‘My Name’ give Peroti all the room he needs to prove his excellence as a singer. Guitarist Tim Eijmaal has plenty of moments throughout the record, but the relatively heavy Blues riff that ‘Bad News’ is built upon deserves a special mention. That simple, but brutally effective lead is pretty awesome too!

Even if you’re not primarily a fan of Soul music, you’d still do yourself a favor checking ‘The Usual Suspects’ out. It’s an extremely well written record featuring a band that takes full advantage from the fact that it consists of five top class musicians. Don’t be fooled though: Sven Hammond – with or without Soul – doesn’t get its kicks from blowing your mind with their technical prowess. Instead, they use their skills to give each and every song the treatment it needs to shine. The results are stunning.

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Being a musician and a journalist, I felt the need to set up something to keep people informed about interesting publications and work-in-progress for both of these functions. I guess I am what people call a muso, so some of my ramblings may seem interesting to me, but will seem the contrary to you. Feel free to let me know in any case. I hope you will enjoy what I post here.